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RESPONDING to God A tablet from the on-going INTERNET BOOK, "The Doctor's Terrific Tablets", ( http://www.terrific-tabs.com ) by John N. Todd III, M. D. (link)
See related subject, in this website: Guidance by GOD (link) "Doctored" -- 6/01; 7/01; 8/01; 9/01; 10/01; 11/01; 12/01; 2/02; 3/02; 6/02; 9/02; 10/02; 2/03; 4/03; 5/03; 6/03; 8/03; 9/03; 10/03; 11/03; 3/04; 7/04; 9/04; 2/05; 3/05; 7/05; 12/05; 9/06; 12/06; 2/27/07 CLICK HERE to go to the "FRONT PAGE" of "The Doctor's Terrific Tablets" CLICK HERE for ALPHABETICAL INDEX of this entire WEBSITE CLICK HERE to EMAIL your thoughts to the author This will be a chapter (a "tablet") concerning what I like to think of as "responding" to God. In this composition, I want to explain my understanding and my belief about how God's people (link) serve God, and "interact" with God.... and how God's people are molded and guided and protected by God -- and how God's people satisfy God. I am using the word "responding" -- for I have not conceived a term that better encapsulates my feeling about the interaction of God's people.... with God. Read and carefully contemplate the Biblical references that follow, below. As I have already stated in other "tablets".... if one does not accept and believe the Bible, then scriptural references will have no "spiritual" meaning to the reader. The language of God (link) may well be "foreign" to one who is unfamiliar with Biblical truth. So.... a reader who has designed his own "religion", without the Bible, will find it necessary to interpret my remarks.... in the light of his own "gold-standard" of spiritual understanding. (See The Gold-Standard of Spiritual Understanding (link). As will be discussed below, the idea of our "responding" to God, is an expression of my understanding of how all of God's people -- in their day-by-day actions and reactions with each other, and with "the world", and with God.... are directly and constantly under the influence and power and guidance of Almighty God. We humans do not aimlessly wander around, doing whatever we please -- whenever we please. My strong belief is that each of God's people functions in exactly the way that God has planned, and "ordained".... and "assigned". We humans, like children of God (which indeed we are, to God.... see link) -- we human "children" are led, and bent, and molded, and changed, and directed -- in precisely the way that our Heavenly Father has planned. If it were otherwise -- then our Sovereign God, the Creator of the Universe, would be left impotently "hoping" that we lowly "blind" worldly creatures would somehow finally begin to "see the light", and "make a decision"..... and that we earthly-beings would then self-generate the will and the power to begin to "cooperate" with what Almighty God has already determined to be His will.... God's INTENTION (see link) for each "Godsperson". It is my perception and belief that each one of God's people does indeed awaken and "respond" to God at the exact moment, and in precisely the way, that the omniscient and omnipotent Creator dictates. If it is otherwise, then our worldly existence is truly in chaos -- and each of us, therefore, is left helplessly waiting for "Big Bang" to influence us -- or for frail sons-of-evolution to "show us the way"..... and we are left depending on rudderless mortal creatures to teach us, and to be our "role-models" -- according to standards established by errant and ignorant and deceitful animal-minds. I perceive and sense that there is divine, God-ly oversight of all that occurs in this Universe. My understanding is that the efforts, and plans, and "works", and successes of God's people -- and our "righteousness", and "obedience", and acceptability to God -- and our "misdeeds" and "sins" (and our "salvation")..... are all constantly under God's supervisory eye, as we "Godspeople" interact with, and respond to God -- in the places where God has established us, for His purposes. If we fail to "respond" adequately, in the opinion of God, God does not destroy us, or abandon us..... NOR does God revise HIS plans and purposes for us, simply because we flesh-and-bone human-creations do not "cooperate" with the Creator, who made us. No, indeed. Instead, God changes us.... in His own way -- at His own time! Pay close attention to the following Biblical references. I will make additional personal comments (below) about these references, and about "responding".... after you have read the selections from Godsword (God's Bible). And, to repeat -- if the Bible is not truly from God -- the very "words" of God, dictated by God through the minds and hands of God's selected individuals..... then these Biblical quotations will have only "humanistic" implications. But if, as I honestly accept and believe, these Biblical words express what God intends for His people to understand -- then each of God's children should "listen" very closely, and "hear", and learn....... and "RESPOND". Read these quotations out loud, so that you will "hear" and "see"what God is saying, while you are reading: Phillipians 2: 13 (NEB) 'It is God working in you, INSPIRING both the will, and the deed -- for His own chosen purpose." In the references above, I have tried to select scriptures that show, Biblically, that an individual becomes a "God's person", or God's "child" -- not because of something that he does -- but by the choice and selection of God, Himself. When one is "accepted" by God, chosen by God (link), and becomes aware that he is one of God's own.... that individual develops "faith", or true belief in God-- and in the Bible. This "faith" may not be instantaneous in onset, but may begin slowly, and then grow and evolve over a period of years -- or even a lifetime. When one detects within himself a fascinating interest in God, and Jesus, and the Bible; and when one finds himself attracted to spiritual matters; and when the language of the Bible becomes understandable; and when a true hunger develops to know more about God..... all of the these "discoveries" are "evidence" that one has been "chosen" ("claimed", "accepted") by God -- to be one of God's own. The "reaction" to this feeling that one is especially set apart ("sanctified") by God -- and the satisfaction of having this "awareness" -- results in a change of attitude; a change in understanding of life, and of the world -- and an altered view of "religion"; and greater understanding of the meaning of the Bible, and the Biblical "messages". This "reaction", this change, is what I consider to be "responding" to God. To state this slightly differently -- the "alteration" that occurs in a person when that individual "awakens" to God, and when he becomes aware of the 'truth of God" -- is the beginning of "responding". See link Darkness to Light. I consider our "reaction" to God, our "responding", to be an integral part of God's awakening His individually chosen persons. "Responding" becomes not something that you do, but something that "happens" to you, and in you..... so that you don't have to spend all your days trying to figure some way to please God, or to "help" God, or to satisfy God.... or how to keep from "offending" God. When an individual becomes aware of his belief in God, and in the ways of God -- that individual begins to sense that what he does, and what he plans, and what he thinks -- are all guided by God; and that therefore his actions are already "acceptable" -- in the eyes of God. This understanding is a further aspect of "responding" -- reflecting a confidence in this interaction between God, and an individual. "Responding" is a part of God's gift of faith..... and "faith" is an "irresistible reaction", or response, to the undeserved "grace" of God. Responding is deeply sincere, and personal, and individual; and does not require precise compliance with the "beliefs" and "rules" of others; i.e., other individuals, or "intermediaries", or institutional churches, or priests and preachers (or other church employees). "Belonging to" a humanly denominational "church" is not a requirement for God's people, even though church membership may be helpful to some. (Membership in an earthly "church" obviously does not "cause" an individual to suddenly become acceptable to God.) God's people respond to, and answer to, God only. One's spiritual "behavior" is accountable only to God; and not to man, or to a group of humans; or to any worldly organization -- including a denominational church. After all, to re-state a previous remark, the King of the Kingdom of God, is God. It is God who decides about the relationship He will have with each of His people. "Responding" is the genuine acceptance, within one's heart, of the gift of faith -- not by forcefully trying to become "holy" or sanctimonious; but by becoming more and more aware of DEDICATION to God, and to belief in God, and to what God is doing in one's life. "Responding" does not occur as an instantaneous magical effect.... and the "accumulation" of knowledge about God is not something that occurs spontaneously when one joins a "church". Responding, and the growing knowledge of God are both spiritual "skills", which, each along with the other, may take a lifetime to develop. Responding "happens", in response to God -- and then grows and evolves throughout one's life of spiritual growth -- under the supervision of God Himself. Contrariwise, if a person tries to "choose God", and tries to do "good-deeds" to justify himself before God, that person quickly determines that such an approach is useless and hopeless and futile. The true "responder", though, instead of looking for "do-gooding", becomes more and more aware that he is interacting with God in the proper way, and that, therefore, whatever he does is what God has led him to do. (I will have to add, here, that this kind of "faith" -- which has actually evolved into trust (link) -- is a giant step in spiritual understanding.) In a "responding" person, evil-doing becomes intolerable, and unnatural, and unacceptable -- and ultimately virtually impossible. The "responder" understands that God leads him "in paths of righteousness" -- for God's own sake, and for God's own purpose..... and that "righteousness" is determined by God; and that righteousness is FROM God (see link) and that righteousness, in the opinion of God Himself, is the only consideration that really matters. Some might say that no human-being -- no human "animal" -- can ever overcome what some churchy people call "sin" -- the inborn, genetic, humanly and animal-ly hungers, lusts, cravings, wrong-doings, and ignorant errors that are characteristic of us all. But.... "God knows His own", and "God knows that we are only mortals"; and God understands; and, according to God-Incarnate, God has forgiven those whom He claims as His own. (See link: SIN; what is sinful, and who decides?) It is being "called" and "chosen" by God, that makes the difference. It is not what one does, or claims, or states, or recites, or hopes, or chooses for himself -- that matters. This may not seem "fair" to some; but, according to God's Word, this is the way it is! To repeat, "responding" to God is not something that you "do". There is no "work" or "deed" -- for God's people -- that one must "do", in order to gain or maintain favor with God.... just as there is nothing that the young child of a human father must "do" in order to make his father genuinely love him, and accept him. Again, "responding" is not something that one "does". Responding is something that "happens" in an individual -- something that "develops", and grows, in God's people..... whenever they are awakened by God, and when they discover that there really is a "truth" -- THE truth (linked) -- about our Creator, the Sovereign God of the Universe, who made each of us.... for His plan, purpose, and pleasure. When one becomes aware of this truth of God, then "responding" becomes "the way" that a person "is". The understanding of responding-to-God prevents the constant nagging feeling that one must "do" something more to prove himself to God.... or that one must recite something, or "claim" something, or carry out some ritual, or perform some "duty" -- to satisfy and appease God. "Responding" to God grows, and matures -- so that one's thoughts and actions are not dominated by "What must I do for God", or "How can I find some way to help God". Instead, a Godsperson may begin to "feel" and to understand and to "believe" and to "trust" -- that what he already does is what God intended for him to do.... and what God has "expected" of him. When this responding-to-God develops, one does not have to search repeatedly for some "good deed" to try to satisfy God; and there is no need for worry and dread about whether or not he is pleasing God, or correctly "serving" God, or doing enough for some earthly "church". More and more, a "responding" child-of-God becomes encouraged that what he does, and thinks, and plans, are all guided by God -- and hence are acceptable and pleasing to God. The summary-essence of these remarks is this: God's people must satisfy God -- only. They do not have to satisfy an institutional church, or its minister, or priest, or its board-of-stewards, or the church's membership -- in order to please or satisfy God. God's own people do indeed satisfy God. If not, God Himself will alter a person's course; or change the external circumstances affecting him; or change the "heart" of that person.... so that the individual will move in God's planned manner and direction. Our reaction to God's guidance of our lives IS "responding". Thus, our "responding" to God is a two-way interplay between God and each of His people. God's people are not robots or puppets (link)..... but we are "children" of God (link), and "servants" of God -- as the Bible repeatedly states. Thus, God directs us, and teaches us, and develops us -- much like we, in our humanly way, build and mold our own children. Compare, in your mind, how we "raise" our children, and how we plan every moment of their existence, while they are still children. We plan their meals, their clothing, their study times, their play times, what they read, what they see on television, when they go to school, what subjects they take, and on and on. We do not consider our children to be robots, or puppets. We simply want them to be molded and shaped into what we consider to be proper and correct, for each of them -- individually. We want our children to "respond" to us; and we require certain things of them. We attempt to build our children into what we think is best for each of them -- and we like to observe the "effects" -- and we enjoy the "reward" of success in our efforts. We realize that each of our children is unlike any other child, and unlike any other human, anywhere; and that we must deal with our children according to their own individual attributes. And God.... though infinitely wiser than we, deals with His "children" in much the same way. And God's children respond as God intends; as God decides; as God directs. With Almighty God, it CANNOT be otherwise. The "response" of God's children is guided and shaped, all along, by God -- to His own satisfaction. And, so, "responding" is what we "are" for God, and what we "are" with God. Our "response" to God, much like our children's response to us, must be acceptable to God -- or God will change us, and our thoughts.... and the events in our life, day by day.... all to bring about what He wants -- not just for us individually in this life -- but for each of us as we fit into God's eternal intention -- in the "Kingdom of God" (link) -- both now, and in the life-to-come. 2/27/07 |